Revving America; What GM in China, and Toyota in Kentucky, foretell for the future of the Big Three U.S. automakers. Hint: It's not the death of Detroit.(General Motors Corp.)(Cover story)

Newsweek International, June, 2006 by Wehrfritz, George

Byline: George Wehrfritz (With Duncan Hewitt in Shanghai)

General Motors has an edgy new brand on its hands these days: Buick. From the leather-draped Royaum executive sedan to the peppy, Italian-designed Excelle hatchback and the streamlined LaCrosse sedan, its fleet has earned a reputation for style, precision design and superior quality, and their dealers score among the highest in the industry for customer satisfaction. The rub, of course, is that Buick is on fire in China, but locked (alongside seven other GM divisions) in a death struggle for the vastly larger home market back in the United States.

Still, Buick's plucky China operation could be Detroit's salvation--and not for the reasons one might imagine. Asia isn't poised to supplant North...

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